


Hunger Games: Origins

by Noble_Lady_of_Magvel



Category: Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Ancestors, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Pre-Canon, Prequel, Steampunk, Time Skips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-10
Updated: 2015-11-10
Packaged: 2018-04-30 22:14:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5181641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Noble_Lady_of_Magvel/pseuds/Noble_Lady_of_Magvel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Hunger's not a game," a young boy once said. Then he grew up and made it one. But where did the idea originate from? Before the star-crossed lovers and their berries, before the rebellion and the dark days, before even Panem, the story of the Hunger Games begins with various children struggling to survive in a war-torn country. Steampunk. Pre-canon. Prequel.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hunger Games: Origins

Prologue

_Was it like this then?_

Yes.

_Seventy-five years or so ago?_

More or less.

_Did a group of people sit around and cast their votes on initiating the Hunger Games?_

They did.

_Was there dissent?_

Of course there was.

_Did someone make a case for mercy that was beaten down by the calls for the deaths of the districts' children?_

…

"This is madness," the Minister of Health roared. He slammed a hand on the table and strode up to the president's face. "These-these Hunger Games you're proposing,  _are you mad?"_

The president of Panem, so old that he couldn't stop the trembling of his hands but far from feeble and toothless glared at him in return.

"The Districts started this war! After everything we've done for them, they rise up and take arms against us, we should annihilate them all!" His hands shook and he let out his breath slowly to calm them. "However, in the interest of maintaining a sustainable population, we cannot afford this."

"So we kill their children?" The voice of the Minister of Peacekeeping quavered as if she could go either way.

The president turned to her with a steely glance. "Yes."

Across the table the head of the Special Operations Police raised his hand. "With all due respect Mr. President," he began slowly, "where did you even come up with this idea?"

The president slid back in his seat and leaned forward, resting his tired face on steepled fingers. The ministers sitting around the table, half of them were his friends and all of them were survivors of the Great War. How could he make them understand?

"From the story of our lives," he finally said. As he expected there was puzzled murmuring at his statement.

He took a deep breath and calmly reminded them of their nightmares of the Great War. Why they came. Why they won't ever really go away. How on bad mornings it felt impossible to take pleasure in anything because they were afraid it could be taken away. But these Hunger Games, they would tell how to survive it. These Hunger Games, they could prevent it.

"Let them know heartbreak, let them feel lives taken away." The president's face was grave as he spoke.

No matter how horrible it was to sacrifice twenty-three children, no matter how humiliating and torturous it was to watch them reenact combat, it would serve as a reminder of the horrors of warfare and why it had to be avoided.

"My suggestion isn't just petty revenge, it's a substitute for war. We should have learned from history. No matter how many centuries pass it's still the same. War's in our blood and it always will be."

And it was this statement that made the Minister of Health hesitate. Because out of all of them, he knew the full truth of his statement.

"A vote will be cast on whether or not the Hunger Games will be implemented," the president continued. "On one hand twenty-three innocent children will die every year. But if they don't, it's thousands that will die and thousands more that will eventually feel the anguish of war."

The president turned away and let the ministers discuss amoungst themselves. Without casting the first ballot he knew with sadness that a year from now innocent children were going to be sacrificed. He felt a pang of guilt but brusquely brushed it aside. The Hunger Games were an unfortunate necessity but he knew he made the right choice.

After all, there were much worse games to play.

_**To be continued...** _

* * *

**A/N I actually plan on this being a huge 6 arc prequel story with the president and the other ministers' backstories spanning their childhoods in the aftermath of some Great War to the creation of Panem, the first rebellion, and then this scene. But honestly it's a completely OC story in a barely-recognizably setting so I imagine it'll be incredibly unappealing to most people. So this prologue can stand alone if readers aren't interested in OC stories and that's why it's marked as complete.**


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